1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for controlling the operation of a specific function module that is installed in an electronic equipment, and more particularly to an apparatus for selectively disabling and enabling a camera module that is installed in a portable electronic device, and a camera module having the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A camera module capable of capturing an image and a voice recording module capable of recoding a voice are now being included in various portable electronics devices such as a PDA, a notebook PC and a wireless phone.
For example, a camera module capable of taking a photograph can be built in a cellular phone. Such a camera module is constructed to include an image sensor module and a lens housing installed at one side of the image sensor module. The image sensor module is equipped with an image pickup device that is electrically connected to a main board of the cellular phone by, for example, a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB). Thus, the FPCB sends an image pickup signal to a main board of the cellular phone for processing, storage or transmission.
However, in specific places requiring security and privacy protection, for example, a security zone—a place requiring protection of technical materials and manpower of an enterprise, and places preventing photographing or recording activity (such as a bathhouse, a swimming pool, a conference room, and the like), it is necessary to control the use of devices such as the foregoing mentioned electronic devices that are capable of recording sensitive information. In this case, conventionally, the use of such devices is prohibited by a security search to locate the device and through an additional security procedure, such as, for example, confiscation of the device, attachment of a security tag or tape on a camera lens of the camera device to prevent photographing and the like.
In this case, the security search and the resulting additional procedure require manual tasks, thereby causing inconvenience and consuming a lot of time. Also, the manual security search cannot securely identify whether or not a corresponding device exists. Moreover, unreasonably, a main and/or unrelated function of the device may also be restricted when restricting the use of the device's specific function such as photographing or sound recording.